I May Have Found Your Old Toys

I’ve some memories of my favorite toys from childhood.  I liked toy revolvers, trucks and a dog some nurses had given me when I was a baby.  Last year my sister was at an antique store when she saw the same dog.  Well, not mine, but the same kind of toy.  She was stunned by the current price!

We didn’t save many of our old toys.  To clear space as we got older we gave many of them away.  It’s my hope new generations had just as much fun. 

While on vacation I visited a toy museum in Montana.  The collection of Raggedy Ann dolls alone could fill a separate museum.  Raggedy Ann is timeless.  My sister had at least one.  My daughter used to curl up with one and fall asleep with her doll.  Somewhere, I’ve got old pictures of my little girl in dreamland and a smiling and wide-eyed Raggedy Ann.

There was a large doll house in the museum lobby.  It looks like a barn.  We had one of those around the house when I was a kid.  It was big enough for me to crawl inside and stick my head through some doors.  It was made of some good construction but after we took some markers and Crayola to it, the real estate value surely plummeted.

A pedal car caught my attention.  These were common in my neighborhood but presented a special challenge.  We lived on a hill.  At the bottom was Brush Burn Point, where more than a few of my playmates overturned.  Hey, all part of growing up!

You can see this museum in Deer Lodge.  The drive from Twin Falls isn’t all that far, although.  I would recommend staying overnight.  There are at least 5 museums in town and at least one art gallery.  There’s a very nice but small hotel and if you drive on to Helena there are many, many hotel choices.  It was a great way to spend some time at the end of summer, which is like childhood.  Gone in the blink of an eye.